Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

ultraman1

TRR wrote: »

So what's your real DCM target? Has to be sub TRR!!!!!!!!!!!

ultraman1

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Sneaky (beginning to sounds like Ultraman!) .

wait till u start pretending to to your better half that ur goin to work and go for two runs instead, either side of lunch in yir mates house,den come home at 6 and tell E that u had a hard day in wrk....

Krusty_Clown

TRR wrote: »

Your commitment to training at the moment has me worried and impressed/jealous.

Obviously worried as you must be targeting big improvements

jealous as I'd love to find the time to logs miles like yours myself but also impressed as I had that time in years gone by and never utilised it properly.

So what's your real DCM target? Has to be sub 2.40!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not that impressive. Plan for this week is to hit 80 miles (max 90 for this plan), but because I'm currently en-route to Manchester, wanted to get as many miles done as I could, to take the running pressure off the weekend (still have another 25 miles to wrap-up).

I'm not taking Dublin marathon too seriously. It's just a dry-run for London. I'm dabbling with the idea of following the Daniels Elite plan next time around, but am doing some of the sessions this time, to see if the plan fits (may drop back to the A plan). I was so impressed after doing the session out in Tallaght, that I dug my copy of the Daniels book from the bottom of the wardrobe and started reading. My mind has been filled with new possibilities.

Krusty_Clown

ultraman1 wrote: »

wait till u start pretending to to your better half that ur goin to work and go for two runs instead, either side of lunch in yir mates house,den come home at 6 and tell E that u had a hard day in wrk....

Shhh.... Don't spoil it! She thinks I work late every evening. Running is my mistress!

TRR

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

It's not that impressive. Plan for this week is to hit 80 miles (max 90 for this plan), but because I'm currently en-route to Manchester, wanted to get as many miles done as I could, to take the running pressure off the weekend (still have another 25 miles to wrap-up).

I'm not taking Dublin marathon too seriously. It's just a dry-run for London. I'm dabbling with the idea of following the Daniels Elite plan next time around, but am doing some of the sessions this time, to see if the plan fits (may drop back to the A plan). I was so impressed after doing the session out in Tallaght, that I dug my copy of the Daniels book from the bottom of the wardrobe and started reading. My mind has been filled with new possibilities.

Jesus I can't wait to see your training when you take it serious

That elite plan is impressive all right and if you can do the sessions you would be bulletproof on race day. I can't follow it myself however, I find it too tough and risk of injury is too great. I'd need to be able to head back to bed after sessions and rest better etc

ManFromAtlantis

london is in april so it means the bulk of training is done with dark morning and evenings and winter weather. altho its the bees knees of marathons, not ideal in this aspect. esp if you working. but maybe its no big deal, city streets lights means you can train whenever you want. ? as it says in the leaving cert - Discuss.

TRR

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

london is in april so it means the bulk of training is done with dark morning and evenings and winter weather. altho its the bees knees of marathons, not ideal in this aspect. esp if you working. but maybe its no big deal, city streets lights means you can train whenever you want. ? as it says in the leaving cert - Discuss.

On the flip side usually renewed motivation in the new year and no summer holidays to break up training. I find Spring marathons easier to train for.

BeepBeep67

TRR wrote: »

On the flip side usually renewed motivation in the new year and no summer holidays to break up training. I find Spring marathons easier to train for.

+1 nice LSR's in cool temps also take less out of the body.

Krusty_Clown

Got the miles done, but they weren't pretty. Mostly pre-breakfast runs, while the OH and chiselers were still in bed. Total for the week: 80.89 miles.

Friday evening: 9 miles easy. After the ferry and long drive to Manchester, I was glad to throw on the shoes and head out into the sunshine. Headed out along the curry mile to Platt Fields Park (where they run the Park Run) and did a couple of easy miles before heading back the same way. Tough going running around Manchester with nothing but concrete pavements and stop/start with the traffic. Achilles were both sore after this one. Pace: 7:15/mile, HR=128

Saturday morning run: 7.5 mile recovery run out to Old Trafford
After a few beers in the Brewdog bar in Manchester I had decided to give the Park Run a miss, but headed out early anyway, in an attempt to find the Bridgewater Canal tow-path. Some surprisingly pretty urban scenes along the canal, however following the canal proved to be a bit of a maze, so I ended up in some of the Manchester waste-grounds, before finding Old Trafford (<- insert obvious jokes here!). A quick loop around Old Trafford (don't worry, I fired twice as much spittle and snot-rockets as I normally would!) before following a runner back down to the Bridgewater canal, which I correctly followed this time back into the heart of Manchester. Finished up with a little run along Canal Street, where I didn't get assaulted, but did interrupt a couple of lads enjoying some early morning self-exploration. :eek:
Pace: 7:29/mile (best pace 2:23/mile (must have been up Canal Street!)), HR=121).

Sunday: 9 Easy/recovery miles around Etihad Stadium
After a couple of days of concrete running, the heels and achilles were very sore, but wanted to hit the mileage, so headed out with a rough idea of where I could find City's ground. Had to return back to the hotel after just a mile with a stomach cramp, but headed back out immediately afterwards, and eventually found the impressive looking ground. Painful run back into the city.
Pace: 7:41/mile, HR=118

Monday: 6 mile recovery run
Not much time for a run before leaving the city, but showed Emer the route out along the Bridgewater Canal, before taking on an extra mile or two. The easy pace seemed to help with the Achilles, though another run past Old Trafford didn't help with the stomach issues. :rolleyes:
Pace: 7:59/mile, HR=115

Krusty_Clown

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

london is in april so it means the bulk of training is done with dark morning and evenings and winter weather. altho its the bees knees of marathons, not ideal in this aspect. esp if you working. but maybe its no big deal, city streets lights means you can train whenever you want. ? as it says in the leaving cert - Discuss.

Summer training in this country is done with dark mornings and evenings and winter weather. I've come to terms with the fact that there is no longer any difference between the seasons. The grass gets a little less soggy in Winter (as it's frozen). Otherwise everything else is the same. Let's call it a new season. Wintaummering - Sh1te all year round.

Rolex_

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Summer training in this country is done with dark mornings and evenings and winter weather. I've come to terms with the fact that there is no longer any difference between the seasons. The grass gets a little less soggy in Winter (as it's frozen). Otherwise everything else is the same. Let's call it a new season. Wintaummering - Sh1te all year round.

Hail to that. Time to emigrate (if I could!)

TRR

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Summer training in this country is done with dark mornings and evenings and winter weather. I've come to terms with the fact that there is no longer any difference between the seasons. The grass gets a little less soggy in Winter (as it's frozen). Otherwise everything else is the same. Let's call it a new season. Wintaummering - Sh1te all year round.

I'm looking forward to the Winter. Last couple of years has been nice and dry and even warm some months

Krusty_Clown

TRR wrote: »

I'm looking forward to the Winter. Last couple of years has been nice and dry and even warm some months

At least in winter I can get away with wearing my sexy leggings. :eek:

Today: 7 miles easy
Nice easy loop around the periphery of Corkagh in the now standard lashing rain, however, it was an enjoyable run, as I didn't have to skip around pedestrians or kerbs, so was able to run a little quicker.
Summary: 7.1 miles in 49 mins, @6:50, HR=131

Also signed up for Dublin City Marathon (before the early bird cut-off), so anyone else running on the 29th October can expect some lovely sweltering hot conditions.

Dory Dory

Rolex_ wrote: »

Hail to that. Time to emigrate (if I could!)

If you emigrate to Virginia in the US, don't sign up for any fall marathons - trust me! Running 20 miles in 90+ degree temps is downright insane, even with a pool to hop into at mile 16 when you're fried from the sun and drenched with sweat that no longer cools you down. Spring marathons are looking pretty good to me at the moment.

TRR

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Also signed up for Dublin City Marathon (before the early bird cut-off), so anyone else running on the 29th October can expect some lovely sweltering hot conditions.

Fcuk you .................... I though it was agreed somewhere that you would warn us next time you are entering a big city marathon. On the plus side if anybody has holidays to take later in the year hold off until the October bank holiday weekend, it's going to be a scorcher

Krusty_Clown

Dory Dory wrote: »

If you emigrate to Virginia in the US, don't sign up for any fall marathons - trust me! Running 20 miles in 90+ degree temps is downright insane, even with a pool to hop into at mile 16 when you're fried from the sun and drenched with sweat that no longer cools you down. Spring marathons are looking pretty good to me at the moment.

I can only imagine! I ran in the hills above California last summer in 100'F, and after 5 miles, returned to the car and drank the 2L of water I had ear-marked for my entire run. Kept going for another 5 miles but was totally fooked at that stage and had to crawl into a fast food chain afterwards, looking like Blondie emerging from the desert in The Good the Bad and the Ugly.

But to be honest, I'd happily take some warm-weather training at this stage (though a nice cool drizzly day like today would be perfect for the race!). Thankfully I've a few days coming up here, where it is currently a rather warming 78'F. I'll take that, thank you very much.

TRR wrote:

On the plus side if anybody has holidays to take later in the year hold off until the October bank holiday weekend, it's going to be a scorcher

At least it'll keep the kids bonfires nice and dry for Halloween.

Dory Dory

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I can only imagine! I ran in the hills above California last summer in 100'F, and after 5 miles, returned to the car and drank the 2L of water I had ear-marked for my entire run. Kept going for another 5 miles but was totally fooked at that stage and had to crawl into a fast food chain afterwards, looking like Blondie emerging from the desert in The Good the Bad and the Ugly.

But to be honest, I'd happily take some warm-weather training at this stage (though a nice cool drizzly day like today would be perfect for the race!). Thankfully I've a few days coming up here, where it is currently a rather warming 78'F. I'll take that, thank you very much.

Based on that google map, I hope you've got a lot of swimming planned in that blue water! I'm sure your Garmin swimming app is feeling a bit neglected and needs some love.

Hoping the suffering in the heat and humidity will pay me some dividends, that's pretty much what keeps me going when I'm out there hating life.

Krusty_Clown

Last night: 5 mile grass recovery run
I leave the country for three days, and someone lets the dark evenings back in? Bit of a shock heading out into darkness just before 10pm for an easy recovery run on the grass in Shanganagh, complete with long sleeves and mudclaws for the sloppy messy conditions.
Summary: 5 miles, 40 mins, 8:08/mile, HR=~115

nerraw1111

Two questions KC,

Any target for DCM?

And

What's Moraira like? I'll be close to that area next month for a wedding but have a few days to play with beforehand.

Krusty_Clown

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Any target for DCM?

Haven't given it much thought actually. It's more of a precursor for London marathon. I'll have a better idea once I do a half marathon (thinking of the National Half next month), but I'd like to get close to 2:42. Training has not been ideal so far, but it's just over 12 weeks away, so time to start knuckling down. Just need to figure out a plan of action.

nerraw1111 wrote: »

What's Moraira like? I'll be close to that area next month for a wedding but have a few days to play with beforehand.

Moraira is really lovely. It's where the Spanish go on holidays, so doesn't have the same touristy feel as other spots along this stretch of coast (e.g. Benidorm etc). Doesn't have the high-rise hotels, or many of the Traditional English breakfast pubs. Beaches are lovely and sandy with clear blue water. There's good running along the coast, and good running in the hills above Moraira, but it's hot, hot hot! We'll be staying up in the hills in a villa (a lot cheaper than a hotel or apartment!), and make day-trips down to the beach in the early evening after it has cooled down (and most of the Spanish have left for the evening!). Lots of small quiet beaches along the coast, and great little Spanish restaurants. I love it and can't wait to go back!

nerraw1111

Sounds just ticket. Will take a look into visiting, looking for a nice Spanish town.

Best of luck with marathon training.

Krusty_Clown

Got stuck in a work conference call, so once again, I didn't think I was going to make this race, but thankfully Google Navigator got me from Clondalkin to Ringsend with a minimum of fuss and traffic and with 30 minutes to spare, I was registered. Looking at the sheet for the grade D race, it looked like there were 18+ competitors, so there were going to be multiple races. I recognized dna_Leri from our previous encounter in the Curlew Warrior run (though he seemed to have lost a few pounds and gained a suntan!) so we chatted for a while and he passed on some wisdom, before he headed off for his warm-up.

The grade D races were first of the 800m races on the card, so I didn't want to stray too far from the starting area in case I missed being called out (a certain amount of race juggling is to be expected at these events). So in terms of a warm-up, I only managed a 1/4 mile of short bursts alongside the astro football pitches (which would come back to haunt me later). Moving track-side, I recognized Pisco Sour from his Oz decathlon photos, so I chatted with him and his mate for a few minutes, watching the women's races and trying to pick up tips. Pisco's buddy was called for the first race, and myself and Pisco were called for the second race. It was good to have people to chat to before the race, as it made the experience less intimidating, but it was still a little daunting to go and run an 800m for the first time.

I was assigned lane 7, sharing it with another runner who had never run an 800m track race either, and I took the slightly inside position. As the gun went off, I made sure to accelerate past the runner sharing my lane so that we wouldn't get tangled up, but even still I started out way to slow and by mid-bend seemed to be losing ground to almost everyone. On another thread, Timmay had mentioned that one of the areas that long distance runners struggle in an 800m race is that they just don't run the first lap hard enough, and here I was being passed by most of the field by the first bend. So I picked up the pace for fear of being left behind and had made a bit of ground by the time we hit the straight.

I saw cones on the track ahead, which I interpreted as meaning that we could merge from this point onwards, and was about to charge into lane 1, when I realized (amidst the shouts of some stewards) that you are supposed to merge lanes after you pass the cones. I changed my angle and kept going and dived into lane 1, glad that I had narrowly averted a DQ.

I passed one runner and jumped in behind another Sli Cualann vest. There was a group pushing on around 10m ahead of the Sli Cualann runner, and I had the choice between pushing on and trying to latch onto that group, or taking the more conservative option of sticking with the Sli Cualann runner. To my great regret, I took the easier option of sticking with the Sli runner and watched as the group of 4/5 runners pushed onwards. What was going through my head at the time was that if I run the middle part of the race more conservatively, I could finish strong. Clearly some long distance race mentality and not the right choice for an 800m race.

We went through the 400m mark in around 76 or 78 (don't remember exactly) and by the time we hit the 600m mark, I was still feeling pretty comfortable, although my achilles were both screaming at me, a clear indication that I should have done some kind of decent warm-up. The Sli runner seemed to be struggling at this stage and as I was pushing for a time rather than a position, I made the choice to pass him early in the final bend and strike for home. I hit the straight and remembered some advice about exaggerating your arm swing and giving it everything, but then the Sli Cualann lad flew passed me, digging very deep. I was already hitting full speed, so couldn't have gone with him if I had wanted to as he had a far superior finishing kick (he had earlier run very well in the 200m). I crossed the line feeling jaded, but still feeling that I hadn't given the race everything.

The results posted later that evening put me in 8th place of the 12 runners (12th out of 22 for the two races), in a time of: 2:19:51. I had hoped to have been closer to my target. Most alarmingly, the Sli Cualann runner finished three seconds clear of me. I am at a loss as to how I lost 3 seconds in the finishing straight. A second I could understand, but three?

So I made some poor choices in this race. I should have started the race significantly faster, which would have made it easier to latch onto a faster group. I treated it as a long distance race, and instead of giving it everything from the start, relaxed too much after the initial 200m. I had the opportunity to tag onto a faster group and didn't take it. I latched onto a runner who (unbeknownst to me was tired from an earlier 200m race) and ran a slower 2nd lap, but had an amazing kick which allowed him to finish with even splits for the two laps.

If London marathon goes well for me next year, I'd definitely be tempted to try and run a lot more of the graded meet races next year, as I think I would benefit from a speed perspective, but also from the racing experience. So another of the 10 round numbers ticked off, but not a race I'll list among my better races.

Pisco Sour

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

We went through the 400m mark in around 76 or 78 (don't remember exactly) .

I went through in 72 and you were well ahead of me at that stage. Must have been 66 or 68 you went through in.

Abhainn

You some auld lad KC. I wouldn't be surprised if you lined up in a 100m race next:)
Enjoy your hols (going on hols again?)

Oh I should be getting back my replacement time piece next week

Krusty_Clown

Pisco Sour wrote: »

I went through in 72 and you were well ahead of me at that stage. Must have been 66 or 68 you went through in.

Yep, you're right.. Brain-freeze. It was either 66 or 68. Well done on your own race. I can imagine that it would be bloody difficult to perform across both the 200m and 800m with only a short break in between.

Abhainn wrote:

You some auld lad KC. I wouldn't be surprised if you lined up in a 100m race next. Enjoy your hols (going on hols again?)

I'm an old man, masquerading in an old lad's body. I reckon if I tried the 100m, most of the competitors would have crossed the finish line by the time I untangled myself from the blocks! four days in Manchester isn't a holiday, it's a penance! I spent four hours in the Old Trafford Museum. Not just any museum, the Manchester United museum.. I should be given extra days off in compensation.

No hurry with the time-piece. It's good that it's getting a proper workout for a change. Shake off some of that dust.

BeepBeep67

If it takes me longer to read your 800m report than it took you to run, then you're not trying hard enough and remembering too much .
All I can remember about my last 800 is pain and burning lungs - good stuff all the same.

Krusty_Clown

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

If it takes me longer to read your 800m report than it took you to run, then you're not trying hard enough and remembering too much .
All I can remember about my last 800 is pain and burning lungs - good stuff all the same.

Fair point. I'll try and shorten both the next time! I did have the burning lungs afterwards, but the only real pain was from my achilles. First time wearing spikes on a track and it showed. I reckon there's a significant difference between an XC shoe and a track spike. The track spike probably has a little cushioning, whereas the XC spike has more in common with just a stiff lower (ont he assumption that you'll be running on grass/mud/forgiving terrain).

Today: 12 miles easy
Ran the first 6 miles with Keith123 before he turned back for home, which kept the pace at the right level after last night's race. Picked up the pace after that and included some strides. Another few recovery miles tonight, just to bring up the weekly mileage which have suffered a little between races and travel.
Summary: 12 miles in 1:27, @7:15/mile.

Pisco Sour

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

First time wearing spikes on a track and it showed.

Did you not wear spikes during your 400 race?

Krusty_Clown

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Did you not wear spikes during your 400 race?

No, I wore racing flats. I only picked up 5mm spikes for the shoe a couple of weeks later, so figured the 12mm spikes wouldn't be practical (or welcome!) on the track for the 400.

Pisco Sour

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

No, I wore racing flats. I only picked up 5mm spikes for the shoe a couple of weeks later, so figured the 12mm spikes wouldn't be practical (or welcome!) on the track for the 400.

Definetely could have gone 1 second faster had you had spikes I reckon, or close to that anyway.